Languages....

[AliCat]

Laurel, I agree with you immensely, but... this country is so large that it would be hard to get enough language teachers in all the levels of the school who could even pronounce the language well. My French teacher in junior high had a strong American accent in her French -- even the students could tell that she didn't come close to the native sound, and that doesn't serve anybody well.

I've taken seven years of French (can read well, write a bit, and am totally out of practice in speaking), a year and a half of German (cannot read, write, or speak except in absolutely minimal phrases), a year of Spanish (well, I was 9 years old at the time, guess how much I can remember?), and have listened to audiotapes to learn Russian (only to find that the Ukrainians in this area speak a different language and got some good laughs out of my attempts to speak Russian).

Over time, I've learned that body language and a good sense of humor can get you a long way with someone who speaks no English. Laughing at yourself translates nicely into any language.

[debiler]

My native language is german, as some of you may have seen in my other threads. At school I learned English and French. Now I´m going to visit the technical college in Stuttgart, where I´m going to study another one. I´m not sure if it will be Spanish, Russian or Japanese. I can also understand some dutch and scandinavian words, because our cultures all have their roots in northern europe.

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-UCANTZEECALIFORNIAWITHOUTMARLONBRANDOSEYEZ-

[Laurel]

@AlliCat,
while i agree with you to a point, i just think that we need to get the ball rolling. we don't need to worry so much about teaching kids perfect accents - that can be improved over time.
and also, think of how many new job positions would open up if we introduced foreign languages as a madatory element to a child's complete education. in America, people laugh at you (or at least laugh behind your back) if you say that you're majoring in a foreign language in college. this is because there are virtually no jobs out there in the U.S. for someone with a B.A. in, say, French. i think that it's about time that we pull those people with foreign language degrees out of the McDonald's that they're working in, and give them some real jobs, dammit!!

[Reeka]

Well, I am a native speaker of English. I also know French, German, Italian, and Spanish. I can get by in Mandarin. I can also read Hebrew and Attic Greek.

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Order of the Holy Flame
Member of Clan HADB

[debiler]

Originally posted by Reeka: Well, I am a native speaker of English. I also know French, German, Italian, and Spanish. I can get by in Mandarin. I can also read Hebrew and Attic Greek.

What the...


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-UCANTZEECALIFORNIAWITHOUTMARLONBRANDOSEYEZ-

[Neb]

My native language is danish even though I am at least as good at english as I am at danish, if not better, I can also get by in german and I will be learning spanish soon.

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Worshipper of Tiax.

Wielder of the ancient Lawyer spells.

Member of the HADB clan.

"Juggling lighted torches in a tar pool is my idea of fun"

"Hell may indeed be freezing over"

[Encard]

I can speak English and Russian... shrug...

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Bow down to the Weasels of Apocalypse! RaBid Fruit Trees! RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! Miniature Exploding Demonic Demons of Doom, Death and Desruction!
:1drgat1:

[WOLFGIR]

Native Swedish speaker. I speak english, I learnt from a book.. hehe.
I also knew a little german called Claus.. OK, seriously, I knew how to speak german awhile ago but now. I can hardly get a beer and something to eat..

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Yawning lazywolf dreaming about nice little fairies...zzzzz
Wolfgirs lair
once-upon-a-paper

[adam warlock]

I speak two languages:

Obscene and profanity....

ok ok on the serious side, I speak English (though ALOT of people thought I have the Dutch or British accent... don't ask me why...) AND I use a little sign language.

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[catzenpewters]

Well, English speaker by birth. I took French in high school but only remember so much of it. And I'm currently learning Russian.